“Tess. I need to see you in my office,” the bosslady
said as she drifted by the cubicle of the hard working Miss Adams. As usual, she did not dirty her eyes with an
actual glance into the cubicle, suffering her peripherals the unwanted task of
verifying whether or not Miss Adams was at her desk.
She was
there, of course. Where else would she
be? The bosslady had not given permission
for, nor set a task that would require, her to leave the area. Still, you couldn’t leave it chance. These lowlifes were always trying to filch
extra breaks. Getting water to drink,
going to the bathroom. Doing it all on
company time. If the bosslady had it her
way, all cubicles would be equipped with giant water bottles hooked over their
carpeted walls with stainless steel nozzles jutting out from the bottom, located
somewhere near the computer monitors so these vermin could rat-lick the tube
without the need to saunter down the hall to the water cooler. That damned water cooler where they chatted
like hens, clucking about her and the rest of the executives. Not that she cared if they talked about
her. She liked to think that their
discussions revolved solely around her in fact.
It was just that they were stealing company money when they did it on
the clock like that. Giant hamster
bottles would end that water cooler crap real quick.
And each
desk would come with a special chair. A
toilet seat. Except the plumbing would
be rather expensive. A Port A Potty. Yes, that was better. That way they had no excuse to leave the desk
unless they were on their unpaid lunch breaks.
Or diapers. That might be more
economical. In a fiscal year, how many
diapers could one of them go through?
What would the overall cost be in comparison to the initial investment
of a Port A Potty? She’d have to figure
in the cost of service calls to empty the portable toilets. If the first diaper was issued for free and
all subsequent diapers had to be ordered from a company catalog… That would create an entirely new revenue
stream!
The bosslady
sat at her desk and began typing up the diaper proposal.
“You wanted
to see me,” Tess said from the doorway.
“Not now!”
the bosslady shouted. “I’m onto
something!”
Tess
flinched and then slunk from the door.
“Oh wait!”
the bosslady called out. She did not
stop typing but multitasked her fingers and her mouth. “I do have something I
need to discuss with you. Please sit
down.”
Tess
sat. The bosslady typed. Tess fidgeted. The bosslady giggled, low and impish. A few minutes later her fingers stopped
moving and she looked up at Miss Adams.
“Tess,” she
said and paused for an uncomfortably long time.
“You’ve been with the company for a long while now.”
“Seventeen
years.”
“Yes. I haven’t been with the company as long as
you have–”
“Less than two
years,” said Tess.
“Right. I know we like to hire from within and I know
you really wanted the supervisor position, but sometimes another applicant
comes along and we just can’t afford to pass on him or her. Their talents are such that should we fail to
add them to our team it could be detrimental in the long run.”
Miss Adams
lowered her head. Good. This was good. The bosslady loved it when subordinates were
subservient.
“I know
you’re disappointed, but this man, Donald Jackson, will be a pleasure to work
for. He’ll do good things at this
company. He’s just the sort of person
this corporation needs.”